Flowers
by LorDawn
Summary: Three days after the Final Battle, Harry and Hermione visits Spinners End. This is a one-shot with an alternate ending
1. Three

HI! this just came over me and all of a sudden I have this sudden urge to write so...

This is just for fun

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Note:

Regular

 _ **Recollection of phrase/ words**_

 _Recollection of scene_

 _Meaning of Flower_

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Three days

It has been three days since that day

Since the final battle

Since his death

 ** _The world operates in threes Miss Granger; Sun, Moon and Earth; Beginning, Middle, End; Body, Soul, Spirit; Heaven, Earth and Waters; Past, Present, Future; Birth, Life, Death._**

"We have to honor him" she said standing up "That's the least we can do"

"They can't find the body" Harry answered. His body had survived but his soul is now battered. He looked at the ground where numerous uneven lines have been subconsciously drawn by his hand. One for each death related to his quest.

"Of course they can't the castle is ruined" She said exasperatedly

The Hogwarts now stood a shadow of its former glory. Its towers blared beyond recognition. Its majestic halls now filled with ash, dust and remains of the unrecoverable dead.

"His house then" She said after a pause "We could make it into some sort of memorial"

"Where?"

"Spinners End" She said

They apparated to the closed mill nearby. The street was almost abandoned; only inhabited by the desperate few who have no other options other than the streets. The neighborhood is filled with dilapidated excuses for a house.

They approached the door of the two story house that could only be described as sad. Paint has not been seen by the wood for years and the rickety sound of the floor as they stepped on it threatening to give in below them.

"There's a password" Harry said as he withdrew his hurt hands. Flexed his fingers still smarting at the sudden attack of the wards

She thought for a bit. He never gave her the passwords as she was forbidden get out in the threat of being seen and reported to the ministry and he always whispered it with his mind "Flowers" she blurted out

 ** _Every living thing has its language and meaning even those that we cannot hear and understand_**

"What?" He asked looking at her. Waiting for a sudden verbal diarrhea

"He speaks the language of flowers"

 ** _Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?_**

"He said he regrets your mom's death" She said looking down

"He did not"

"He said it... On the first day. Those questions... That's what it meant" She admitted

"You knew" He asked. Eyes widening at her confession.

"Not at first. I never suspected until the pensieve memory"

"What's the first flower?" He asked in monotone. He does not know how to react that.

She thought for a bit. Trying to remember the events that took place inside. All their conversations by the fire.

"He only talks like that to describe or talk about the people he loves. Think! Who does he love?" her eyes grew wide His Mother.

Lotus

 _You know how these flowers grow? They grow in the murkiest depths of the pond. Despite being born into dark, gloomy conditions, where hope for such beautiful life seems dubious, the lotus grows, rises above adversity. Ironically, this same dirty water washes it clean as it surfaces. As the lotus opens each petal to the air, not a stain or spot of mud remains externally. The inner lotus too, has never seen a drop of mud or dirty water. It is pure, and bright, and beautiful._ _The beauty in the muck_

"That's his mom's name?"

"No, it's Eileen but she is described as the beauty in the muck. Just like lotus"

They entered the familiar house. Its walls lined with books from all subjects not shying from dark and obscure. No free space had been spared by the parchments and tomes.

He still has the overstuffed couch near the window where he would read the morning papers and even books for hours without any deviation from his eternally stiff posture

The crack in the window from when he apparated her while bleeding and they fell over a stack of books in the floor. He swore he will replace it when he has the time. Now he won't be able to.

The way to the threadbare kitchen is still dark as he said it was a waste of perfectly good candle to light the passages in between rooms

No hum of electricity greeted them; not that she expected it. He rarely stayed here so he had never seen the reason to subscribe to such convenience.

The table was set for one but there are two chairs. She smiled remembering his mumbling of 'insufferable nuisance' on the afternoon that she conjured it so they can both eat at the same time.

"Hey! There's a secret door to the second floor" Harry said. His voice filled with fake enthusiasm. He felt perverse going through a dead man's house.

In the bookcase near the fireplace was a trapdoor that is activated by a book on the uses of blood magic. Beyond it is another warded door.

"Lily" Harry said and the door slid open to reveal a staircase

Of course the second one is lily she thought. Both of them have seen the memories and his despair on the night she was killed

 _It's heavenly to be with you_

They entered the landing. The grimy windows overlooking the desolate street.

"It has another password" Harry said puzzled

"Lily won't work?" She asked. It has got to work who else does he love?

"Yeah another one I guess. Does he have a sister?"

She shook her head

"A friend perhaps or maybe another woman?"

 ** _You have a brain Miss Granger, use it. Think_**

"Rose" she said looking at a bush that is viewable only in this part of the house

"Rose?" he tried and it opened to reveal his quarters

"Who is rose?" She asked herself as she walked in. The bed was pristine with only a slight layer of dust disturbing it. Like it was never slept on for some time. the armoire is closed but she can picture all the black in there. All except one. A rose was placed in a stasis encased in a glass beside the bed. She smiled at the memory

 _"Here take this" The Professor said as he entered the door barging in the sitting room where she is reading_

 _"What's it for?"_

 _"I was taking out the weeds in the garden and trimming the bushes when I accidentally cut this"_

 _"Sir"_

 _"Just take it... or not throw it away for all I care" he said before going in the kitchen mumbling 'Stupid rose enticing everyone with their beauty then snaring with their thorns'_

 _In her hand is a single white rose that held a lot of messages if she is willing to assume there is._

 _'Innocence and Purity, I am Worthy of You, You're Heavenly, Secrecy and Silence'_

 _It was Valentines that day_

Hey you alright?

"Yeah." she replied with a nod "The lab is down there it's the only way in and out"

"Figures." Harry smiled a of bit reminiscence in his eyes "The man sleeps with his potions"

They shared a laugh.

A Few days later, the Ministry had allowed them to hold a funeral for a missing person; a person the world has come to hate. There were only a handful of people who came including the minister who had baptized the boy. It was a silent ceremony with the minister's voice offering soothing words. A closed casket was lowered to the ground and flowers were thrown to and left for an empty grave.

A Black marble tomb sits atop of the hill where he met Lily Evans. Shaded by the large tree they used to play with nearby the lake where they would spend hours talking and creating dreams.

The words inscribed read:

 **Severus Tobias Snape**  
 **January 9th, 1959 - May 2nd, 1998**  
 **From The Darkest Reaches Comes The Light**

"Farewell professor and thank you." Harry said "If I had known, I would have listened..." Tears were starting to pour from his eyes. Lily's eyes. "You, You saved me time and time again yet I... I doubted you" Ginny soothed him as much as she could. His brother has just been buried yesterday and the wounds were still fresh. They stayed awhile as harry regained his bearings.

It was now sunset and Hermione Granger is watching it disappear by the lake

"You unfair man! You pushed me past the breaking point to tell me I cannot survive the war if I am this weak yet you dare die on me." She started as the words began tumbling in a familiar rush "You! The greatest and youngest potions master in centuries is dead by venom at that! I can accept it if you died at an Avada but a snake! Merlin's sake you are a slytherin!" She ranted before letting out the bottled emotions that she had held in for days. She let it pour out on the grave of the man who had held her with no pretenses and insulted her liberally. A man who can make her day even with sarcastic and double edged compliments.

"Don't worry, I told harry that you told him you are sorry for his mom" she said as she held the smooth stone "You're too verbal with your flower language that time but it will help him move on"

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How's that? Hating me now? Leave a review!


	2. alternate

Disclaimer: this is not a part 2 but simply a alternate ending to the first.

o0o

"How sentimental... You even convinced yourself that I use the Victorian flower language" A stony voice said behind her "You are wrong" he spat

"Sir?" She said befuddled turning to a voice that haunted many a nightmare of students at Hogwarts

"Did it ever occur to you that an accomplished legilimens like me, also know how to use runes and arithmancy to predict the possible outcomes of the future?" he asked with a cold expression that could have sent the dark lord skittering. Offended, He power walked up the familiar hill "What are the answers to the first questions I gave harry?"

She was speechless for the first time after the war. Shock took over her body and her mouth looked for a phrase, sentence, word or whatever to say. Here was a man they all thought dead lecturing her on potions atop a hill that housed his grave

He looked down his crooked nose and let out a disgusted sneer "Unless you want to be a real fish swimming in the lake Miss Granger shut your mouth." She promptly did so earning her an eye roll before he continued "Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death." he began the lecture pacing around as if in class "A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons. As for monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite." He turned to her "What can you tell me about that plant?"

"Aconitum species are highly toxic, although they were used in medicine as a pain-reliever, diuretic, heart sedative, and to induce sweating" she supplied. Her back involuntarily straightening as she answers

He nodded "a similar infusion of the three saved me Miss Granger and just because it was realistic does not mean I did not need help. A dittany or a simple targeo and Anapneo followed by Vulnera Sanentur could have been appropriate.

"I'm sorry professor" she apologised looking down. Suddenly she was back to being Hermione Granger; the awkward and nervous first year instead of Hermione Granger; Brain of the Golden Trio and Order of Merlin: First Class

He waved a hand in dismissal

"Your wearing the shirt" She said after a while smiling as if she had a joke only she could understand.

He cocked a brow

"The green shirt I gave you from Christmas"

"Let's just assume Miss Granger that I had nothing else to wear today" He drawled


End file.
